My Body Teaching My Mind

This is the best title I could think for this post – my body teaching my mind, because that is exactly what happened on Saturday. My body totally put my mind in its place after my run Saturday morning! Let me rewind a little- I’ve been training for my half marathon for about a month now but I’ve only really been training on the treadmill. I realized that wasn’t going to work much longer, I needed to get outside and train on what I’d actually be running on…the good ‘ol ground. The first time I tried running out side, on the path that I always do my long walks on, was awful! I probably picked the worst time of day to try and run outside. It was 5pm, muggy as hell, along with a storm brewing in the clouds which eventually ended up pouring down on me half way through the run. I could barely even run a mile and I felt so worthless like all my hard work I’ve been putting in for a month now meant nothing. Long story short I made it about a mile and a half then it started raining on me so my discouraged self and I turned around and walked back home. The whole time in my head I kept thinking how I’m never going to be able to do this and I’m just not that person who can run for a long period of time.

The rest of the week was pretty crappy because of the weather so I continued to go to the gym and run on the treadmill. Each time I’d run on the treadmill I’d think about that run I had outside and how miserable I felt. I decided that I was not going to allow the first time I run outside define my running capabilities. I was going to continue pushing myself each day and I was going to train more outside because that’s the only way I’ll get better. So this past Saturday I woke up around 10am (Luke Bryan concert the night before so naturally I needed a few extra hours to recover), ate a protein packed breakfast, digested for about an hour, and then laced up my tenny pumps and headed out on a run. When I first started running I felt good, the sun was shining but it wasn’t hot and there was the most tranquillizing breeze that carried me through the first part of my run. And then….a hill! The first of many hills I might add. I was determined to make it up this baby hill though, even if I had to crawl. I’m sure it was not a pretty sight seeing me trying to run that but man did it feel good to know I did it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to run the entire time but I was happy that I was able to push myself into running more than I walked. And that is where my body teaching my mind comes in. Before and during my run my mind is constantly going on about why I won’t be able to accomplish this and how this is an unfit goal for myself. Then I realized the less I concentrate with the negativity in my mind the more energy I have to focus on my run. Before I knew it I had run 2 miles without stopping. Yeah I was sore and my legs felt like 100lbs each but to know my body knew what it was capable of more than my mind did was an amazing feeling. I finally understand what it means now to trust your body.

So my advice to anyone who’s new to running (or starting anything new in general) is to keep on pushing! Don’t quit just because you can’t run 5 straight miles after a month of training. Focus on all that you’ve accomplished this far. I know, I know easier said than done but trust me you’d be surprised what your body is changing on the inside when you’re constantly focused on what’s not happening on the outside.